Republic City Noir
by boringasian
Summary: After a short trip back to republic city Avatar Korra is caught in a bombing incident. Lin hires the help of a private detective. He finds the pieces of a corpse, a homosexual and a conspiracy.
1. Chapter 1

There were people. More than enough for a crowd. A garish mess of washed out colours and loud words. The sun sits on the city and clenches on each of them rays that drip off buildings. Water benders complain it's too hot, fire benders shout it's too cold, the rest breathe in the broken glass and ash.

The city is a quarter destroyed and spiteful columns of smoke could still be seen rising. Footsteps in the shadow of the craters the equalists left. Sometimes the citizens of republic city would pass a rare dead body and tried hard not to let a scream erupt from their strained lungs. They carried their worries and hopes among their shoulders. Fear poked out from them like bones.

Yet they congregated in all the old places. Talked about the neighbours and drank cups of tea. A people who are conditioned against tragedy. No matter what, they can always share a small moment with others. Gossip would rise from mouths and steam would rise from tea. Greif from all the things they have lost would be battered down by hands on shoulders and calm words. Comfort is tossed around and shared. Somewhere an engine whined and coughed.

The satomobile was a month old and painted in scars and scratches. Two afterthoughts of wire or glass made the headlights. Four worried looking tires. It carried an optimistic handful of young adults. They laugh and joke as if they'll live forever. Bolin and Asami let their voices spar with each other in the front seats. In the back seats Korra and Mako have been holding hands without noticing for a while. Like the nature of all lovers they had shy smiles draped on them.

The avatar would stare at the remains of Amon's republic city. For two weeks her eyes sifted through angry ruins, furious broken things dressed in rubble. Many however were only slightly damaged, the undamaged buildings stood nervous amongst all the wounded skyscrapers.

Already repair work was taking place. Wreckage slowly shrivelling away with each day. Workers stood around with smiles caked in laughter and dirt. They toiled underneath the sweating sun, and yet it was nice to hear them sing as they lifted bricks above their heads. She takes a last glance at stout arms and burly shadows and yellowed light.

They round a corner and the stench of the city hits them. Like the smell of packed ash rising in your hand. Their satomobile gingerly joins the end of long line of satomobiles. Asami's face has shadowed into a frown.

Asami thrusts her voice to the satomobile ahead of her.

"What's the hold up?"

A man hurls his voice back at her.

"Construction work!"

"What do you mean Construction work?"

"You kids haven't been here too long have you?

"You could say that"

"Everything's changed you know."

"Yeah ever since Amon right?"

"Right"

Asami withdraws herself into the satomobile. One hand out of the window and one hand on the wheel. Asami's fingers tapping out the sounds of boredom. Engines choking out blackened noises. How long is this going to take? Asami lets Korra's voice catch up to her.

"It's just two weeks Mako, don't worry"

"I'm not worrying I'm just being realistic"

"You're nagging"

"Korra I watched you get really messed up two times"

"So?"

"I don't know"

"You're worried aren't you?"

"No"

Mako said the lie so blatantly it wasn't a lie at all.

"I know I need to train but Tenzin needs to get an air acolyte to take over his position in the council"

"That takes two weeks?"

"Yup. Sorry cool guy"

"damn"

"Don't worry we're safe. Afterwards we can go back to the southern tribe. I mean if you want to."

Because the four of them were listening to those two they weren't really too aware of the world around them. A woman slides a satchel underneath the satomobile. In a panic Bolin earth bended. Of course it was too late.

A flash of fire. A world starved of gravity. Then the thud.

When Korra woke up the street was the colour of ruptured blood. The redness of fire spilled out with a silence that hums. The car left in the shape of broken bones, tortured metal creased into wrinkles. Somehow a tire lands and the sound of it hitting the road is like a bad punch line. It's followed by a small splatter of flesh. Tiny chunks of meat that once talked and lived and breathed.

Did this brutal burst of fire and sound mean something? Was it the will of the spirits and the destiny of the avatar that all these people died confused and in pieces? No. It was because an angry and desperate woman left an explosion in the right place.

Wordlessly Korra brushes of teeth that had landed on her. She tries to walk but she slides on a finger severed on the ground. Shivering and trembling. Inside of her a warm scream rose but died in her throat. Feet shuffle after each other and she moves slowly holding her fear in her hands.

And here is the dust.

And here is the ash.

The smoke is a living thing and it coils itself around the survivors. It shouts out echoes of flame and ember. It follows Korra.

In the burning fog she finds the other three. She finds Mako and holds him. All the things they need to say are said through their shaking arms wrapped around the other. Nothing is done while the smoke stalks away from them. Asami says that everyone is okay. Everyone's fine. Bolin says it was a bomb.

Blooms of blood are splashed on them. On hair, on clothes, on skin. Despite it all Bolin has a smile with a red scar tailing around his mouth. His swollen words are heavy.

"How's that for safe eh?"

A couple of bitter smiles were found on the others. It was deranged and horrible and out of taste, but they were all touched by Bolin's morbid sense of humour. They laughed a little but only because they were scared.

Soon their smiles become limp.

Soon there isn't anything left to say.

Slowly the silence is stabbed by heavy voices that chant people's names. Urgent voices held together by panic.

"Tenka! Have you seen my Tenka?"

"Lei!"

"Hui! Hui Shatsu!"

Lilly are you here? Please. Lilly. Please"

Each forlorn name leaves a handprint on Korra's heart. They could hear weeping now. Sobbing followed by an ugly hollowed out howl. Sometimes it was followed with a knelt-down scream. Most were silent in the smog. Anguish and blood and and bits of people falling down.

They watch as the stench of burning petrol billows across it all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a forgotten side of town the fire and the thud could not be felt nor heard. Most customers didn't want to hear or feel anything. The smell of alcohol took bites out of the air.

Lin would stand at the door frame. She would stare at her pale shadow in the pale light. The brevity and shortness of it.

There is a singular man seated at the bar. He is a stoic mixture of coat, armour and a turned back. Shadows and bad memories fall on the man like cobwebs. Hair is a torn headful of black. A drink cradled in a hand stiffened with rage. Or sadness.

"Hello Bae"

No word creeps out of the huddle of steel armour and long coat. He still hasn't moved. Lin moves to occupy a seat next to him. His drink moves up and goes down. He smells corroded.

"There was a bombing"

His silence almost stings. No voice, but a serenity so intense and loud it can speak for him. It tells Lin to fuck off. The only thing that moves is the sunlight that fists fights with motes of dust in the stale air.

"The avatar needs someone with your talents to protect her"

He shucked off a tight nod for her. He moves as if his body is shared. Lin's voice rises to the edge of the room and fails to fill it.

"There's money for your trouble"

"I need money"

"Then come to the air temple. I think you know why I asked only you for this. Just control yourself. Dress nicely"

Spindly fingers tumble and trip with a lighter. He lights a cigarette and the smoke rose to the edge of the room and succeeded in filling it. The last thing Lin sees before she leaves is an orange softly hazed out of the cigarette.

He would spend another hour drinking silence and smoking nostalgia. He leaves empty cups.


	2. Chapter 2

Listen to his song while reading this chapter if you like. Makes it quite entertaining. Enjoy.

watch?v=cLiPISVAwek

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A dusty looking man drowned in steel armour. He steps silently off the ferry and steel boots land on the stiff planks from air Temple Island. It was morning and the sun was stacks of pink bleeding into yellow. Bae toys with the private detective licence in his pocket. His head is soaked in last night's hang over and he struggles with the migraine that drips into his brain. A few more painful seconds and now he's strolling towards the temple.

Twenty killed and forty wounded. What do they put in bombs theses days? Whatever was in the bomb, it made a damn mess. Another bombing incident and with no one less the then the avatar involved. They still talked about the flakes of skin and ash that fell down. You'd think it would stop with Amon missing but the spate of violence has steadily started rising. Amon orchestrated his bombing with grandiose and a sense of theatre, as if an explosion was made of paint and words. These bombings were clumsy. Pointless. Brutal.

It didn't make sense. Bae would stare at the Island, a union of old architecture and strange plants he's never seen before. Here was an island that was made from a culture everyone thought extinct. The Great War had ended in a mutual peace. Sato was an equalist that made heavier than air flying machines. When he thinks about it a lot of things didn't make sense.

Then what's the point in making sense of this situation? Maybe the bombing was because someone's radio was broken and they needed to do something to pass the time. To simply stand up, stroll out and throw down a satchel which would turn people into a fine red paste. Bae put great faith in the random cruelty of man.

It was only several steps before a mob of air acolytes appeared and questioned him with their stares. He takes a second to admire the red on their robes, as if the colour has been strangled on to it.

"Excuse me sir, what is your business here?"

He could see their manners edged with teeth. They're a tired and scratchy bunch of people dressed in air nomad clothing and bags under their eyes. Their muscles are slack with restlessness. He could see headaches thriving in their skulls. He can tell they haven't been sleeping well. He pulls out his licence.

"I'm a private detective and I'm hired under Lin Bae Fong's authority. I'm here to lend my services to her and get briefed on my assignment"

"I'm sorry but there's a change in plans. She told us to tell you to report to Tenzin"

"Who?

"Tenzin. Now if you could follow me."

"The councilmen right?"

"Yes"

"You could be lying"

"What do you think that would mean? What would you do?"

"I'd follow you to see why"

"Then follow us please, detective"

He steps in time with them. He reaches into his pocket takes out a cigarette. Lights it up, breathes it in and watches smoky wings fly away from him. They try to charm him with polite smiles and warm words. He responded with rather cold frowns and a seemingly endless reservoir of cynicism and sarcasm. Someone made a joke but it also seems as if his humour is a dead and useless thing. In the end the air acolytes give him the tolerance that people give to a stray dog.

One of them was chuckling though. A girl who was barely a woman that had her hair tied back and eyes so piercing that youth melts from them.

"Something funny?"

"You remind me of Tenzin"

"Boring?"

"Yeah. Maybe. Just really moody"

"I can be exciting you know"

"Really?"

"No"

Well his humour isn't dead but dry. Chokingly dry.

Before long they reached a long slope of steps. Bae takes them two at a time, a natural occurrence to him. He's a long lanky man with stretched limbs and pinched green eyes. His steps are lopsided sways of legs and arms. His left hand moves up and wrestles with riots of dark hair.

The acolytes walk the stairs like good habits. Their steps are small coughs of sound in this hushed world. His are an unfortunate and thunderous collision of steel and stone.

They reach the top and proceed to walk towards a tall bearded man. He is tented in orange, yellow and saffron robes. He has tattoos, a bald head, and yet for some unknown reason he manages to pull it off as something very serious or sobering. His skin is smoothed but is slowly becoming crinkled into entropy. He has a striking set of hard edged brows and incredibly good posture. A mouth is curved into a withering frown. Overall Tenzin is a rather severe man.

"Detective"

Smooth words that are placed roughly on the air.

"Councilman"

Tenzin bows low and the acolytes dissipate into the island. Pollen is pasted to the wind that howls at the two men.

Tenzin eyes over the detective he was told to expect. A man weighed down by a tattered coat and sheets of steel battered into the shape of armour. His undercoat is too big for him and often ends in messy scruffs of fabric. His body is made of haphazard lines that tumble and lean into each other to make a slim build. Both of his hands are skinny bony limbs that dig themselves to the pockets in his coat. His face could only be described as burnt out with a staggering indifference. A cluster of whiskers make a last stand of stubble on his cheeks. If he was capable of smiling he could be handsome enough to be dangerous. A stubborn cigarette pokes out from his lips.

"You have a nice home Councilman"

"Thank you"

When they shake hands it's obvious that Bae's muscles are made of long days and nights of drinking nothing but tea. Diminutive yet deceptively strong. Tenzin thinks that Bae makes a very imperfect metal bender.

"So detective Bae, Lin speaks highly of you"

"I have a good collection of talents"

"Such as?"

"Ones that will protect the Avatar"

"Such as?"

"Well Let's just say I'm not part of the force anymore"

"And?"

"One of my talents is that the law doesn't stick to me like it used to"

"I don't think that's a good talent"

"It's a useful talent"

Bae takes another distasteful lungful of ash. Breaths out smoke.

"You don't really get what purpose I serve do you?"

"No, to be honest detective I'm a little confused"

The detective has etched his mouth into a hard smile.

"Well you see it's because the metal bender officers are motivated by more than serving justice. Firstly they serve their families because they need the money from the job to support them. Next they serve their commanding officers because they need to keep their job, if their officer says something goes they have to go for it. If none of the above are effected they serve themselves. I think you know the extent of this don't you? When once upon a time the new chief started reporting to Tarloc"

"Are you saying that the mental benders are corrupt?"

"I'm saying that metal benders are human. If you can understand it justice is not something that is built into the system. It's not a spectre that haunts us. Justice didn't come down and strike Amon in the face. I can't reach into my pocket and give you a handful of justice. Justice is just an idea to control people. Soon they realise that's all justice is and spend time on duty just getting through the day. Serving justice becomes a soulless set of actions you repeat. You want one?"

He's taken out a cigarette. Stretched bits of paper rolled and glued. Bae's fingers holds it in a questing grip. Tenzin shakes his head while Bae pulls his skinny arms into himself and smokes against the wind. Tabaco and bitterness settles on the detective. Tenzin speaks up.

"Let me guess, you serve justice?"

"No. It'd be a little vain if I said that. Who do you think I am? I only serve myself and right now I want to find out who did the bombing"

"That's it?"

"Yes I just want to find out who did it. I'm a little curious"

"You're not very convincing"

"Well Lin thought so as well. I caused her a bit of an inconvenience by only being selfishly curious. I Lost my job. She lost some face."

"What happened"

"Well for starters she arrested someone called Pema for no real reason. I called her on it and sent some stuff to the papers. She got a little angry and beat me a little. You know how it is."

Bae stares at the fused ash floating in the wind. He smells sky bison and flowers and family. Delicately he would hand Tenzin some more words.

"I lost my job. Yet I reeled her in, she'll never admit it but I really helped her start to fix her messed up head. I had no job but a lot of experience, so I fixed a ship to Ba Sing Se and went private. You wouldn't believe what goes on there. Some years later I heard about the revolution and I came back to check on some old friends"

He hurls out the word revolution, like a man would hurl out the word "asshole".

"I Left for the first boat, and got drunk at the first bar and that's where Lin found me. Heh. Who would've thought she still kept tabs on me"

"So your talent is that you are curious, detective?"

"Yeah. I'm curious"

"Well with everyone tied down trying to restore order I think we could do with a man of your talent. Find out who did this and you'll be paid. Please."

Tenzin gives him his hand and Bae takes it. An awkward handshake made of smoke, air and filtered sunlight. Tenzin grasps it tightly. Tenzin Stabs him with his glare.

"Detective tell me, why would Lin keep tabs on you?"

"Well that's the question isn't it?"

Bae's eyes are faded grey gems. A crippled half-light glinted out of them. You could only guess how old they are and how much they have seen. What's your move Tenzin? They release their handshake but hold their stares.

"Please I need to see Korra. I need some witnesses."

Tenzin relents and squeezes out a sigh.

"Follow me detective"


End file.
